Quantum Field Theory, as Simply as Possible

This is a phenomenology rather than a technical guide for post grads. It is a clear exposition of some of the more complex aspects of QFT and gives the reader a deep insight into the subject. A good but for the undergrad or serious amateur.

Not for anyone with no mathematical background

A very clear introduction to QFT - it has inspired me to try and get to grips with a more advance mathematical treatment - which I think was the objective of this book!

The author seems unable to distinguish between what should be included and what shouldn't. Every few pages there's another page of footnotes, some of which are actually quite important if you want to follow the maths. This makes smooth reading almost impossible. He is terrible at explaining concepts, usually resorting to just using equations (which aren't well laid out, sometimes doing several algebraic manipulations in one step with no explanation as to why those manipulations are being done), and then going "ta-da!". The author tries to make the book "accessible" by adding cutesie names to people in the example scenarios, but is then unable to explain the concepts in the scenarios, but rather just falls back into maths again. Similarly the author uses some "fun" headings or historical anecdotes to try to make the book accessible, but is unable to actually explain his topic well, often just being patronising instead. Here are some quotes from the book: "Even a dull high school student could already see by eyeball that the Galilean transformation t′=t, x′=x+it given earlier ain't gonna cut it" On another page she shows an equation in which a quantity of momentum is equated to a quantity of energy times velocity, with no explanation as to how or why the units of this equation don't add up.(The units of momentum are mass times velocity, not energy times velocity, so this equation is inconsistent with the basic rule of equations that the units of both sides must be equivalent.) Instead of explaining anything about this equation, he just makes this statement afterwards: "Energy corresponds to time, momentum to space, duh." This lack of ability to explain things mixed with insulting snipes towards the reader make for one of the worst books on physics that I've encountered.

What a masterpiece! Witty, informative, and fascinating. Technical notes at the end of chapters are very welcome. I wish everyone did that. I do data analytics / data science professionally, and being able to pick up a book and understand what’s happening at the frontiers of physics (which has always been my passion that I unfortunately did not follow) is to me incredible. Very thankful to the author for producing this masterpiece.

I really love this book so far as it seems like a very accessible way to learn more about quantum field theory as a student. Love the writing and the author. However, the kindle version does not work on my 11th gen kindle paperwhite and I really wish it would, as it is personally the most convenient way to read.

If the author is reading these reviews, I would like to thank him sincerely for writing this book. I am a social scientist by training. My field of study has nothing to do with quantum field theory. But I have always regretted not having taken the other path when I was 18, so finally I ordered this book once the popular science books were no longer satisfactory: I needed to understand the intuitive logic that informs the formulas and all the calculation that goes into explaining the behavior of an electron. Alas, this is THE book. Prof. Zee is highly entertaining too, and my husband was really wondering why I was LOL'ing while reading a book called Quantum Field Theory. I took this book to a camping trip with me. My son spilled water all over it so I ordered a second copy and I am dedicated to keep it dry and clean this time! I cannot recommend this book highly enough--if you have some background in calculus, things will make more sense. I now know what those Feynman diagrams mean and what Dirac did! Thanks a million for writing this book!

Ok

This book is truly a breath of fresh air among the popular physics books. Most popular books delve into string theory or quantum loop gravity. While these books make for a light reading I am pretty sure the reader comes out with nothing on the other side. Zee's book fills a great gap. If you're an ambitious student who knows quantum mechanics and some electromagnetics , this book will help you bridge the gap to quantum field theory. Or if you're like me with an engineering background who also knows quantum mechanics (path integral formulation and the Dirac equation), this is a perfect book for you to transition into QFT. I have tried reading QED/QFT books on my own for self study and couldn't decipher any of the material in it although I have the background necessary. After reading Zee's book, all that changed. Suddenly now looking through these books I started understanding bits and pieces and I intuitively know what the author is trying to convey. Just so you don't get the wrong idea, this book is not a textbook. It's still a leisurely reading. It is not heavy on equations at all, but Zee does not shy away from writing the Lagrangian of QED. This is a perfect balance and is exactly what I needed. I found his approach and physical explanations refreshing and intuitive and he made me confident that I can tackle a subject like Yang Mills theory after reading his book; a subject I never understood no matter how much I read about it. I also found his casting of general relativity into a field theory very transparent and not only that ; his very simple explanation for the metric made me grasp what general relativity is really about ! Bear in mind that QFT is an advanced subject. Zee does explain the background necessary for you (quantum mechanics and special relativity) before delving into field theory, but please, this book is not intended for you if you don't know any mathematics/physics at all. This is the problem with the 1 and 2 star reviews I see. You do need some prior physics background to be able to enjoy this book. Don't blame the author for this, you are not his intended audience. Overall, a gem of a book. I wish physicists would write more books of this kind. If I could give 10 stars out of 5, I would.